Year in Review

2008 has been a year of seemingly constant motion for me, perhaps the most I have ever traveled in 12 months. The year opened on a beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and then went like this: Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Mui Ne, Da Lat, Phnom Penh, Stung Treng, Siem Reap, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Paxse, Phnom Penh, Home in NC, Salt Lake City, Zion & Bryce Canyon, Salt Lake City, St. George, Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon, Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Eastern ID, Western MT, Jackson, St George, Canyons again, San Francisco, Portland OR, Salt Lake City, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Salt Lake City, Portland OR, Dallas TX, Home in NC, LA, Phnom Penh, and finally Siem Reap, where I have been for the last 6 weeks, the longest I've stayed in one place all year!

Following are some photo highlights from each month:

January


Part of the PEPY team, Phnom Penh



Coconut bike, en route to Kep, Cambodia

February


Students read new books in Chanleas Dai



White Sand Dunes in Mui Ne, Vietnam

March


Marina in Mui Ne, Vietnam


Sunset over the Mekong, Kratie, Cambodia


April


Monk drinks at Angkor Wat


Strong boys at the entrance to Beng Mealea


May


Feeding the lambs


May morning in the garden, Gurley Holler

June


Fishing with Andrew on Cane Creek, Bakersville NC


Camp Kitchen, Zion National Park

July


The Tetons


Fishing with Pop on Secret Creek

August


Grand Canyon Traverse


Angel's Landing, Zion National Park



September


Lambeau Field


Mt. Hood



October


Camping Next to Water, Near Brightenbush Oregon


The Woodards, October 19 2008



November


Students at the Chanleas Dai Primary School


West Entrance to Angkor Thom

December


Two boys play chess on the street in Siem Reap

Sunrise near Chi Phat

Apsara

I didn't get any photos that quite captured the grace and poise of this Apsara dancer, but she was stunning to watch. The traditional Khmer arts were nearly extinguished during Pol Pot's regime--it is truly special to see young artists practicing them now.

One of PEPY's partners, Cambodian Living Arts, is working to connect the few master artists who survived the Khmer Rouge with young students. During my first stint in Cambodia, I was fortunate to see both masters and students perform several times, some of my finest memories here.

Cycling, Vinyasa, Climbing.

No shortage of activity since arriving in Siem Reap--it's great to live with so many people who constantly like to get out, exercise, and have fun. Besides the paintball, we've been biking several times a week in and around Siem Reap and Angkor. This weekend some of our crew will join a cycling race around Angkor and a few of us will lead a mountain biking trip around the Western Baray on Sunday.

I am also going to a yoga class twice a week, which so far has been powerful for body and mind. I quite like connecting spiritual and physical wellness in one practice--it is invigorating and relaxing at the same time.

Last Sunday I went rock climbing for the first time. A group of Japanese people currently working in SR started a climbing group, and invited a few of us along to climb with them at Phnom Kulen (Lychee Mountain). I had tried free climbing and bouldering before but was never quite comfortable on the rock, so it was nice to try climbing with gear and with Japanese folks, who can make a complete amateur feel like an expert (上手ですねえ！）We had a wonderful morning scaling an enormous rock in the middle of the jungle, and spent the afternoon cycling back to Siem Reap. Quite a day.


On the rock


A group of youngsters, puzzled by our efforts


The group お疲れさまでした！

All photos courtesy of Adam Vaught

PEPY Paintball

A few weeks ago the new PEPY crew went out for a surprise team building session at the paintball/entertainment center on the edge of town. Because there's no better way to get to know your work/house mates than by shooting them in the face with a high-powered paint rifle. Sorry Adam.

Faces

Spent a wonderful day at the PEPY Ride School yesterday in Chanleas Dai, click here to see a slideshow of more faces.

Kon sa'at

This is the daughter of our house mother at Chateau PEPY. At four years old, she has figured out that her main job is to stand around looking uber-cute.

Mouthful is the new Ramblings. Kind of.

I have been experimenting with a new blog hosting site called tumblr.com. The interface makes it incredibly easy to share all kinds of media, from videos and headlines to photos, books, quotes, and music. Plus, I imported the feed from Ramblings so all posts will be displayed on the new blog as well. Consider it a brain dump for my increasingly short attention span.

However, I am not giving up fisharealwaysswimming, I will still be writing stories and thoughts and posting photos here as well. So if you like the old style, you can continue to come here. If you want to read Ramblings plus a plethora of other things I want to share...check out mouthful.tumblr.com

In between.

I am currently reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and came across a quote from Eugene Debs that I quite liked:

The issue is Socialism versus Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization. The time has come to regenerate society--we are on the eve of a universal change.

While I won't go so far as to declare myself a socialist (perhaps a compromising socio-capitalist?), I do feel like some of the solutions to the issues facing our nation (and humanity for that matter) can only be found by policies that consider the greater good of society more important than the good of individual citizens. I sometimes wonder how "socialism" and "communism" became such ugly words in the US, the roots of the words and the ideas they represent lie in society and community.

Finish this sentence...

This afternoon in the PEPY office we did a team-building exercise which I enjoyed and thought I would share. The exercise required the individual to finish the following sentences (in bold)--my answers are in italics.

1. I stand for creating opportunities and lifelong education.
2. I define quality of life as balance between give and take, and enjoying the people and earth around me.
3. My life changed when I joined the Peace Corps, cliché as that may be.
4. I recognize my weaknesses as being stubborn and judgemental, not being proactive enough, not digging deep enough, and allowing my adventurous lifestyle to make me complacent and selfish.
5. A harmonious and meaningful relationship requires listening, respect, compromise, and honesty.
6. My life will be complete if and when I die. I realize this one sounds obvious, but I hope I never feel like I have done all I want and experienced all that life has to give.

I would enjoy hearing how my readers might finish these same sentences...feel free to comment!

Streetwalker

Phnom Penh is not a beautiful city. At least not by any western standards. Though most of the roads are now paved, highrises and modern businesses are popping up on every corner, and there is evidence of new public works projects, the city still feels rather ramshackle. Its streets, thoroughfares, and parks are littered with all kinds of refuse and rubble, the air is oft choked with exhaust and dust, and electrical wire tangles mar the view of the tree lined alleys. On either side of an old colonial French villa or an inviting new dayspa are crumbling apartments and buildings that should be condemned. The rivers run muddy brown all year round and the riverfront, despite a horde of posh businesses catering to expats and tourists, still feels squalid.



And yet, it is perhaps my favorite city to walk. To say the Phnom Penh has character is like saying New York has culture, or LA has style. The streets are absolutely alive with people, vehicles, animals, and activity of all sorts. Kids with fistfuls of riel run down the street on mother-sent errands; moto and tuk-tuk drivers congregate on every corner, playing cards or checkers or simply shooting the breeze; barbers setup their tiny stands on a back alley and give shaves for 25cents; old women, often with a kid or two in tow, pull their recycling wagons through the streets picking up discarded cans and bottles; food and drink are abundantly available from vendor carts and street side restaurants, selling everything from sugarcane juice to hot bowls of noodles to duck eggs to coconuts to ice cream cones.



Simply walking through traffic is a real-life video game (remember Frogger?)--you must constantly be on guard for everything seems to be coming right at you. Cross a busy street and you will likely have to weave through several Lexus SUVs, a smiling cyclo driver or two, a large barreling truck, a group of bright orange-robed monks, plus countless overloaded motos carrying not just passengers but electronics, live animals, produce, and building supplies.



Sidewalks are a bit of a misnomer, for there often is little room to walk. It is impossible to walk straight. Businesses spill out of their doors almost into the street, motos and tuk-tuks use the sidewalk as parking, vendors block the way with their carts, and there are always piles of rubbish to avoid. I find I usually just walk in the street and disregard the sidewalks altogether.

All of this was magnified the first couple days I was here, as the country was celebrating the annual water festival (see "Bon Om Touk" post from December '07). Thousands and thousands of people from the countryside came to the capital to enjoy the festivities, packing the already chaotic streets, to the point where it was difficult to move at all. Disconcerting at first, but after a few walking journeys into the heart of the city, it all feels incredibly familiar again.

LA Filters

In Little Tokyo


Downtown, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall


On Santa Monica in Echo Park

In transit

I was in LA for a few days before leaving for Cambodia--the day of my departure I found this restaurant while walking around Echo Park.



In the Taipei airport, I was tempted by the gruel, but eventually settled on the beef noodles

He's so...human!

Four years ago I woke up on post-election day on a nearly empty beach in Panama, near the end of my Peace Corps service, shocked and discouraged that the US had put George Bush back in office. It just didn't seem plausible. While I wasn't terribly excited about John Kerry, I couldn't comprehend that anybody felt Dubya was leading us in the right direction. I felt truly out of touch with the average American, as well as the government and nation I thought I was serving. A friend and I consoled ourselves the night before with simpler gratifications: fried fish, patacones, boxed wine, tropical waters and the rebellious, socialist lyrics of McCarthy, along with vows of expatriation for the foreseeable future.


Today, I woke up and my first thought was the face of Barack Obama, and what he represents to so many people--not solely his potential as president, but more so an inspiring, progressive leader who seeks to unify Americans and other nations alike. For the first time in my life, I voted for someone who not only shares many of my political beliefs but more importantly, seems to hold his faith in humanity at the forefront of his guiding principles. I have great hopes for his presidency, and how his leadership may serve not only our nation, but the breadth of humanity.

Two Fall Photos

Reflections on Crabtree Creek



The last walnut

森のカボチャ

On Saturday afternoon I went to visit some old friends and their four month old baby boy. With less than a week before Halloween, we decided to carve one of the pumpkins on their front porch into a jack-o-lantern. While I do not have artistic impulses often, I wanted to do something besides the traditional triangle-toothed face. My friend and his son share the same first name Forrest, so I decided to attempt carving the Japanese kanji for "forest": 森, or "mori". Below is the result...

Wakeboarding in Autumn

My oldest brother Danny bought a boat earlier this summer--I had been eager to get home so I could go out and play before it got too cold. Monday it was just warm enough in the afternoon for a final trip down to Lake James before the boat gets winterized until next year.

The water was almost pleasant (though you'll notice, I am a wimp and wore a wetsuit!) and we were one of the only boats on the lake so we had plenty of fun. I had not wakeboarded in over a year so it was awesome to get up again and my brother, who usually skis, got up for the first (and 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th) time on the wakeboard, which I suspect was due to my impeccable driving.


Me, cruising


Danny up on the board, but terrified



Riding confidently, or, at least pretending